Fantasy Sports and Bankroll Management

Talk to your average Joe about the type of people who make a living from daily fantasy sports betting and the chances are they’ll paint you one of two pictures: either the degenerate gambler who doesn’t know when to quit or the devil-may-care rich kid with a flagrant disregard for money.

The reality, however, is often far more mundane. Not only do some people derive a stable income from playing fantasy sports, they also do so in a responsible and risk-averse way that effectively minimises their chance of ever going broke. The secret to their success? Good bankroll management.

Five Top Tips for Good Bankroll Management

As all players are different in terms of the money they have available to them and their attitude towards taking risks, there is no one-size fits all description as to what constitutes “good” bankroll management. However, whatever the amount you’re looking to deposit or the stakes you’re aiming to play, the following five tips will help ensure that you get the absolute most from your money.

1) Take Advantage of Welcome Offers

Most of the top fantasy sports betting sites out there will offer a first deposit bonus for new customers, along with other welcome perks like free tournament tickets. While it may seem a lot of money to part with, if you’ve already allocated a budget for the season in your head, we’d strongly recommend that you deposit it all at once, as that way you’ll get the most out of your 100 percent match.

2) Find Your Feet in Freerolls

Your bankroll is precious and if you’re just starting out, we’d advise you don’t pay for an education by jumping straight into real money games. Instead look to learn the ropes in freeroll tournaments. True, the competition may not be reflective of real money games and teams will be more punty, but you’ll soon get to grips with how things work and might even win some bonus cash along the way.

3) Set a Daily Budget

You may be totally fine with losing the $1,000 that you budgeted for the season, but that doesn’t mean that you should go and enter a $1,000 buy-in tournament during your first week of play and just take it from there.

Instead risk a small portion of your bankroll (say 5 percent) each day and see how you get on. This method will not only prevent you from ever going broke, as when you lose, the amount of money you have in play will decrease in correlation with your total bankroll. It will also allow you to risk larger sums of money and move up the stakes when you’re on a winning run.

4) Take the Occasional Shot

While the method of bankroll management mentioned above is a tried and tested system used by many serious sports bettors, there’s no denying that it can be boring and also requires a fair amount of discipline to implement successfully. Rigidly adhering to these guidelines every week will quickly kill your passion for fantasy sports betting, so keep the game fresh by taking the occasional shot at a guaranteed prize pool tournament that is slightly outside your normal bankroll constraints. If you’ve had a good week, consider risking 10% of your bankroll on one event and really bring your A-game.

5) Always Gamble Responsibly

It may seem obvious, but always gambling within your means is so important that it simply has to feature on this list. Make sure that whatever money you budget for fantasy sports betting is entirely separate from the funds you use to live off and only risk money that you can afford to lose.

If a bad run wipes out your entire bankroll, re-depositing doesn’t automatically make you a gambling addict, but you must think long and hard whether doing so will impact on you financially and whether the potential reward justifies the risk. If you have any questions relating to responsible gambling, be sure to check out www.ncrg.org (US) or www.gambleaware.co.uk (UK) to find more useful information.

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